Each time a fire alarm is triggered in any building on A&T’s campus, there are certain safety protocols that students and faculty must abide by. Due to the amount of times the alarms in Villages 4 and 6 go off, students do not always follow the safety protocol that A&T’s University Police Department have put in place.

“The fire alarms that go off in the villages are sometimes unnecessary, and because everyone knows they are unnecessary, everyone takes their good old time,” said Basha Webster, a sophomore engineer major from Washington Township, New Jersey.

Major K.T. Bland, head of A&T’s University Police Patrol Operations, stresses how important it is for students to follow the safety protocol when the fire alarm goes off. Contrary to some students’ lax attitude, the A&T police department takes each fire alarm seriously.

“It is evident that students in the Village do not treat every fire alarm as an emergency and are quite relaxed when exiting the building,” said Shannon Bryant, a sophomore accounting major from Oxon Hill, MD.

It is N.C. A&T’s policy that all students and faculty exit the building in a quick manner when the fire alarm goes off. No matter how many times an alarm gets triggered throughout the day and night, students and faculty must exit the building each and every time.

Once a fire alarm goes off, the University Police Department immediately follow their safety protocol. The University Police Department Telecommunications System instantaneously notifies the Greensboro Fire Department as well as the patrol officers on campus when a fire alarm is triggered. The patrol officers are the first responders on the scene along with A&T’s police officers. The police officers then quickly evaluate the scene and figure out where and why the fire alarm is going off. During this time, A&T’s police officers communicate with the telecommunications system workers, who feed the information to the fire department. At times, the Greensboro Fire Department arrives to the scene. Although it may seem like an extensive process, Major White said, the entire process only takes about 3-5 minutes.

“You never know when it may be real. The first time us officers don’t treat the fire alarm as if it is not a real fire, will be the first time that it is an actual emergency. We also ask students and faculty to please work with us by exiting the building as quickly as possible. You never know the time when it will be a real fire.”

When the fire alarm goes off in the Villages, the University Police Department always arrives, but sometimes the Greensboro Fire Department does not show up. When asked why the Greensboro Fire Department does not always come to the Villages every time the alarm sounds, Major White said A&T’s University Police Department has no control over how the Greensboro Fire Department conducts each emergency.

“We do not have control on whether or not the Greensboro Fire Department arrive at the scene. We, the University Police Department officers, must make sure that we follow all our safety protocols, and ultimately, make sure that all students and faculty are safe.”

• Madeleine Hood, Contributor